Nor took I Guifcard by blind fancy led,
Or hafty choice, as many women wed;
But with deliberate care, and ripen'd thought,
At leifure firft defign'd, before I wrought:
On him I rested, after long debate,

And, not without confidering, fix'd my fate :
His flame was equal, though by mine inspir'd
(For fo the difference of our birth requir'd);
Had he been born like me, like me his love
Had first begun, what mine was forc'd to move:
But thus beginning, thus we perfevere;

Our paffions yet continue what they were,

Nor length of trial makes our joys the less fincere.
At this my choice, though not by thine allow'd
(Thy judgment herding with the common crowd),
Thou tak'ft unjuft offence; and, led by them,
Doft lefs the merit, than the man efteem.
Too fharply, Tancred, by thy pride betray'd,
Haft thou against the laws of kind inveigh'd :
For all th' offence is in opinion plac'd,

Which deems high birth by lowly choice debas'd.
This thought alone with fury fires thy breast
(For holy marriage juftifies the rest),
That I have funk the glories of the state,
And mix'd my blood with a plebeian mate;
In which I wonder thou fhould't overfee
Superior caufes, or impute to me

The fault of fortune, or the fates' decree.
Or call it heaven's imperial power alone,

}

}

Which moves on fprings of juftice, though unknown.

Yet this we fee, though order'd for the best,
The bad exalted, and the good oppress'd;
Permitted laurels grace the lawless brow,
Th' unworthy rais'd, the worthy caft below.

But leaving that: fearch we the secret springs,
And backward trace the principles of things;
There fhall we find, that when the world began,
One common mass compos'd the mould of man;
One paste of flesh on all degrees bestow'd,
And kneaded up alike with moistening blood.
The fame almighty power infpir'd the frame
With kindled life, and form'd the fouls the fame :
The faculties of intellect and will
Difpens'd with equal hand, dispos'd with equal skill,
Like liberty indulg'd with choice of good or ill:
Thus born alike, from virtue first began

The difference that diftinguifh'd man from man:
He claim'd no title from defcent of blood,

But that which made him noble made him good:
Warm'd with more particles of heavenly flame,
He wing'd his upright flight, and foar'd to fame;
The reft remain'd below, a tribe without a name.

This law, though custom now diverts the course,
As nature's inftitute, is yet in force;

Uncancel'd, though difus'd; and he, whofe mind
Is virtuous, is alone of noble kind

Though poor in fortune, of celestial race;

And he commits the crime who calls him bafe.
Now lay the line; and measure all thy court,
By inward virtue, not external port;

}

And

And find whom juftly to prefer above

The man on whom my judgment plac'd my love:
So fhalt thou fee his parts and person shine;

And, thus compar'd, the rest a bafe degenerate line.
Nor took I, when I first survey'd thy court,
His valour, or his virtues, on report;

But trusted what I ought to trust alone,
Relying on thy eyes, and not my own;
Thy praife (and thine was then the public voice)
First recommended Guifcard to my choice:
Directed thus by thee, I look'd, and found
A man I thought deferving to be crown'd;
First by my father pointed to my sight,
Nor lefs confpicuous by his native light;
His mind, his mien, the features of his face,

Excelling all the rest of human race :

These were thy thoughts, and thou could't judge aright,
Till intereft made a jaundice in thy fight;

Or fhould I grant thou didst not rightly fee;
Then thou wert firft deceiv'd, and I deceiv'd by thee.
But if thou shalt alledge through pride of mind,
Thy blood with one of base condition join'd,
'Tis falfe; for 'tis not bafenefs to be poor;
His poverty augments thy crime the more;
Upbraids thy juftice with the fcant regard

Of worth; whom princes praife, they should reward.
Are thefe the kings entrusted by the crowd
With wealth, to be difpens'd for common good?
The people sweat not for their king's delight,
T'enrich a pimp, or raise a parafite;

Theirs is the toil; and he who well has ferv'd
His country, has his country's wealth deferv’d.
Ev'n mighty monarchs oft are meanly born,
And kings by birth to lowest rank return;
All fubject to the power of giddy chance,
For fortune can depress, or can advance :
But true nobility is of the mind,

'd.

Not given by chance, and not to chance defign'd
For the remaining doubt of thy decree,
What to refolve, and how difpofe of me,
Be warn'd to caft that ufelefs care afide,
Myfelf alone will for myself provide.
If, in thy doting and decrepit age,

Thy foul, a stranger in thy youth to rage,
Begins in cruel deeds to take delight,
Gorge with my blood thy barbarous appetite;
For I fo little am difpos'd to pray

For life, I would not caft a wish away.

own;

Such as it is, th' offence is all my
And what to Guifcard is already done,
Or to be done, is doom'd by thy decree,
That, if not executed first by thee,
Shall on my perfon be perform'd by me.

Away, with women weep, and leave me here,
Fix'd like a man, to die without a tear;
Or fave, or flay us both this prefent hour,
'Tis all that fate has left within thy power.

She faid; nor did her father fail to find,
In all the fpoke, the greatness of her mind;

Yet

Yet thought he was not obftinate to die,

Nor deem'd the death the promis'd was fo nigh:
Secure in this belief, he left the dame,

Refolv'd to spare her life, and fave her shame;
But that detefted object to remove,

To wreak his vengeance, and to cure her love.
Intent on this, a fecret order fign'd,

The death of Guffcard to his guards enjoin'd;
Strangling was chofen, and the night the time,
A mute revenge, and blind as was the crime:
His faithful heart, a bloody facrifice,
Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes,
Clos'd the fevere command (for flaves to pay):
What kings decree, the foldier must obey :
Wag'd against foes; and when the wars are o'er,
Fit only to maintain defpotic power :
Dangerous to freedom, and defir'd alone
By kings, who feek an arbitrary throne;
Such were these guards; as ready to have slain
The prince himself, allur'd with greater gain;
So was the charge perform'd with better will,
By men inur'd to blood, and exercis'd in ill.
Now, though the fullen fire had eas'd his mind,
The pomp of his revenge was yet behind,
A pomp prepar'd to grace the prefent he defign'd.
A goblet rich with gems, and rough with gold,
Of depth, and breadth, the precious pledge to hold,
With cruel care he chofe: the hollow part
Inclos'd, the lid conceal'd the lover's heart:

}

Then